Why not charge, at least for business travelers, a fixed cost for the flight, and then a percentage of the cost of a barrel of oil on the day of travel. That way they don't need to try to figure out how much oil will be on date of travel, and they can stop adding fees to everything on this side of the sun...I have not heard of many costs skyrocketing OTHER than oil...I know labor goes up, etc...but not more than it really used to. So lets just absorb that cost of oil on the day of flight, and be done with it...thoughts?

Well, people don't have the ability to know how much their ticket is until the day they fly, but, at least the airline knows that they are covered. And you, the passenger knows that you wont get charged 100 fees, and the service will be at a certain level. I am not saying its a GREAT idea, but it would allow you to get the service you feel you deserve, and that you are carrying the hedge...

Business travelers will pay regardless of the fees. Business will be done at just about any cost. It's leisure travelers that will stay home with increasing fees. I guess if airlines want to fly around an empty Y, it's really up to them, but then again, I guess Y doesn't matter anymore.

Quoting EA CO AS (Reply 11):Not all of it - and depending on the carrier, most of it may be held back by the credit card company until travel has occurred.

What credit card companies are worrying about is that airlnes using funds for next months (next 6 months) flights to pay for today's operations, or even worse, last months. Funds used to buy fuel futures woulld be largely safe for the credit card folks. And I said 'funds', not all the funds.

Buffet: the airline business...has eaten up capital...like..no other (business)